Infection graph continues upward trend in Varanasi
VARANASI: The number of Covid-19 infection cases is on the rise in Varanasi despite the weekend restrictions, going by the number of people who have tested positive in the last one month.
While 37 people tested positive for the coronavirus disease in the district on July 10, there were 161 new cases reported on August 10. Varanasi district’s cumulative count of coronavirus cases was 760 on July 10 and it increased to 4,716 on August 10. Nevertheless, officials of the district administration and health department said the two-day closure every week helped break the infection chain. The weekend curbs helped keep people way from those asymptomatic persons who had not been tested yet, they said.
A senior official of the district administration said a rise in daily tests had resulted in the detection of a number of Covid-19 positive cases.
District health and education officer Rajesh Kumar Sharma said, “The testing rate has increased tremendously in the last 15 days. Corona sampling and testing of 700 persons used to take place daily in the district around a fortnight back. At present, sampling and testing of 3,200 to 3,500 persons is being done daily. As the testing has increased tremendously, more and more coronavirus positive persons are being detected daily.”
Sharma said the health department aimed to carry out 5,000 tests daily.
He said the weekend closure helped break the virus chain.
A maximum of 312 positive cases were reported in a single day on August 7.
Despite repeated efforts, the district magistrate could not be reached on his cell phone for a comment.